Boko Haram: FG To Pay N45B Interest On Loan

The Federal Government of Nigeria is expected to pay the sum of N 45 billion as interest for the $1 billion foreign loan it took to purchase military hardware as part of efforts to enhance the fight against terrorist group, Boko Haram. Daily Trust reported on Tuesday that President Goodluck Jonathan had in July 2014, asked the National Assembly to approve the foreign loan, explaining that the funds is to be spent on upgrading military equipment.

Nigerian House of Representatives

At a plenary yesterday (Tuesday) the House of Representatives revealed that the loan is to be repaid in yearly installments of N30 billion for seven years, amounting to a total of N210 billion.
It was gathered that based on the aforementioned, the additional N45 billion represents interest and other charges on the principal sum of N165 billion, which is the naira equivalent of the $1 billion loan.


Speaking with lawmakers during interactions with stakeholders, Chairman, House of Representatives Finance Committee, Abdulmumini Jibril, disclosed that said
According to the Chairman, House of Representatives Finance Committee, Abdulmumini Jibril, the committee discovered that Nigeria would have to cough out about N30 billion annually for seven years to nurse the loan.

He, however, hinted that the yearly repayments would be included in the 2015 Federal budget. He assured that his committee and the Committee on Debts and Loans, which are saddled with the responsibility of interfacing with stakeholders on the loan, must ask some relevant questions on the issue.
Jibrin further revealed that the panels were already trying to earmark the portion of the military hardware that would go to each security agency, among other issues, noting that some of the security agencies do not know what their share of the equipment to be purchased would be, and reiterated the need to do a thorough job.
The lawmaker asked the House to give his committee two weeks to conclude work on the loan request, but the Speaker of the House of Representative, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, ordered the committee to present their report ‘latest by next Tuesday’.

The speaker explained that the directive was issued because the House cannot continue to wait since the matter has been referred to the two committees long ago.
Meanwhile, Tambuwal’s directive followed an observation by Deputy Leader Leo Ogor, who pointed out that the two committees were delaying action on President Jonathan’s request.
Jibrin recalled that the Senate had approved the $1 billion loan weeks ago, adding that his committee has been working harmoniously with the service chiefs and other security agencies. He hinted that Senate had already started work on the loan long before the House, and blamed that for the delay.

He said another delay was caused by the absence of service chiefs and the finance minister from a session organised before the Eid el-Kabir break.

The House finance committee chairman debunked speculation that the delay was deliberate because he belongs to the major opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, whose members had earlier opposed the loan request when it was submitted in July 2014.
However, despite loud session in the Senate on September 25, 2014, Thursday, a loan for the Presidency in the amount of USD1,000,000,000 (over N163bn) has been approved with the information on priority spending leaked.